trade
Standoff at border
Curtailing onion export to India can affect imports from the country in turn
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed
The row over export of onions’ export to India remains unresolved as a large number of trucks laden with this perishable commodity are stuck at the Wagah border. This has been the position despite the approval of the government of Pakistan to execute those orders made before January 4, the day a ban was imposed on onion export to India through land route.

MOOD STREET
Ssshhh .....they might hear you
By Sardar Hussain
Scene 1: A graduation class in a public-sector education institute.
While taking a class of 20 students, a teacher asks, "What are your views on the governor’s assassination?" Eighteen, turn by turn, justify the murder. One is indifferent and says, "Sir, hamein is se kya lena dena" (Sir, what have we got to do with it). When the 20th student gets his turn, he cautiously disapproves the killing.

Town Talk
*Exhibition: Group show at Revivers Galleria, 84-B-1, Ghalib Road, Gulberg III till Sat, Jan 22. A.S.Rind, Mashkoor Raza, Salman Farooqi.
*Billboard Exhibition curated by Shahana Rajani at Alhamra Arts Council, The Mall till Jan 22.

theatre
A Sabz that
bordered on the Laal
A perfect time for a play whose politically correct message seemed to have struck the right chord with the audience
By Farah Zia
The name was catchy. Young people doing a play on today’s Pakistan and calling it Sabz (green) is enough to make one curious. What if they were going to predict an Islamic revolution.

Handling headaches
An enlightening interactive
session with a doctor on pain management and emergency
In a country where questioning and open discussion on certain subjects can turn volatile, guidelines on health issues are most welcome by everyone. What can be better than someone talking to you about yourself -- not just talk but address your problems and give possible solutions because the person is equipped to do that.

On the path of progress
Gypsies who have been treated as encroachers and cast-offs for long, are getting identity cards and education with the effort of NGOs
By Salman Ali
Gypsies are part of the city for more than two centuries. There are 36,880 gypsy families and around 36,950 huts in Lahore city but these people have no rights and have not been recognised as citizens of Pakistan. They are not allowed to apply for identity cards.

 

 

trade

Standoff at border

Curtailing onion export to India can affect imports from the country in turn

By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed

The row over export of onions’ export to India remains unresolved as a large number of trucks laden with this perishable commodity are stuck at the Wagah border. This has been the position despite the approval of the government of Pakistan to execute those orders made before January 4, the day a ban was imposed on onion export to India through land route.

The government had taken a plea that onion export to India, since December, had resulted in escalation of its price in the local market. It feared continuation in the export would further push the prices upwards. However, there has been no ban on the export of onion through sea route to India something which traders in Lahore blame has been done to oblige exporter mafia in Karachi.

The decision on the one hand perturbed the local exporters and on the other Indian importers who lobbied with the government and threatened to stop export of tomato and other vegetables to Pakistan. Another development is that as a reciprocal measure India has refused to accept Pakistani cement which is lying in bogies at Wagah.

The situation has not improved at all, says Chaudhry Ijaz, Ajuman-Arhtian Punjab President while talking to TNS from Islamabad. He says he has come to the capital to meet the commerce ministry officials and request them to resolve the issue.

Ijaz says the PM’s announcement has not benefited them as he had allowed delivery of export orders accompanied by letter of credits issued before January 4. None of the exporters has these letters as trade between the two countries is being done on mutual understanding and without bank guarantees.

He says the ministry has asked them to contact customs department in Lahore and get some declaration from them as a proof. This he says may take some time which they cannot afford at all.

Ijaz tells TNS is that right now around 150 trucks are standing at Wagah border. Hundreds of others have been offloaded and sold in the local market at half its production price. "Onion is a perishable commodity and cannot be held for long as sprouts start emerging from them," he adds. He says if the situation remains the same for a couple of days more these 150 truck load of onion will face the same fate. He says luckily onions loaded in these trucks are somewhat safe due to cold weather; otherwise they would have rotten by now.

Muhammad Ghani, an onion trader in the city, tells TNS that the suspension of this trade will cause a loss of one billion rupees to growers, exporters and commission agents. Though the prices will come down this year but has everyone realised what will happen the next year? he questions. "Nobody will dare to indulge in cross-border trade of perishable goods and the parties affected this year will take at least 5 years to come out of the financial crisis they are facing," he adds.

Ghani fears Indian exporters will stop exporting tomato to Pakistan as a reciprocal measure. This may push the price of the commodity to Rs 200 per kg and above. He says the onion crisis is so severe in India that the government is providing subsidised onions to people in Delhi and no one is allowed to buy more than 2 kgs of this subsidised onion. It’s natural if Pakistan does not cooperate with them in this situation, they will adopt the same attitude when Pakistan faces a similar situation.

India is a major exporter of vegetables to Pakistan as out of total export via land route, 30-32 per cent account for tomato alone. Besides, it exports soybean, chillies, ginger, potato, capsicum, raw cotton etc. India started importing onion in the month of December last year when its cotton crop suffered badly due to heavy rains all over the country. Onions are consumed in a huge quantity in India where it is used by the overwhelmingly vegetarian population in salads and to make popular South Asian curries.

Babar Ali, a trader in global commodities and a strong proponent of mutual trade in Saarc region, tells TNS that the government must at least allow export of onions booked before January 4. He says this is essential as Pakistan is hoping to import cotton from India to meet the demand of its textile industry. He says last year’s flash floods in the country destroyed a lot of cotton crop and adds that India can help out as it has enough cotton stocks available. But to avail this favour, Pakistan will have to do one first, he adds.

Jaideep Hardikar, a special correspondent of Indian English daily, DNA, based in Nagpur, tells TNS via email that onion shortage in India this year is because of crop failure in many parts where it is grown.

He says usually, every December-January onion shortage is felt. This is because the kharif crop comes early and the rabi crop enters the market around February, he says adding: "We only get two crops of onion. So there’s a huge gap between the two arrivals, and in between are the shortages. The government plugs those shortages with imports from Pakistan and other neighbouring countries."

Jaideep who covers agriculture issues for his paper says, this year, with Pakistan too banning onion exports to India, the Indian government has no immediate answer to taper off the staggering seasonal price rise of onions owing to shortages. As the fresh yields (the winter crop) from the fields arrive in the markets next month, the onion shortages would ease a bit bringing down the prices, he adds.

An official in Pakistan’s federal commerce ministry tells TNS it’s not true that the decision has been taken to oblige some mafia in Karachi. In fact the ban has been imposed on trade through the land route only to keep control on the volume of stocks crossing over to the other side of the border. He says if this restriction is not imposed, endless truck loads of the community will cross over to India in days. The demand is so high in India, a country of enormous size, that the whole produce of Punjab can be easily consumed there, he adds.

He says the ministry is also aware of the problem of exporters and is ready to facilitate those who booked orders before January 4. But the problem right now is that there is no mechanism to confirm a claim as none of the exporters has a letter of credit bearing the date when the order was booked. "We are looking for an alternative way to ascertain the date of order placement and hope the issue will be resolved," he concludes.

 

MOOD STREET

Ssshhh .....they might hear you

By Sardar Hussain

Scene 1: A graduation class in a public-sector education institute.

While taking a class of 20 students, a teacher asks, "What are your views on the governor’s assassination?" Eighteen, turn by turn, justify the murder. One is indifferent and says, "Sir, hamein is se kya lena dena" (Sir, what have we got to do with it). When the 20th student gets his turn, he cautiously disapproves the killing.

The teacher goes on to ask the class, "Do you all have the details of the murder case?" Most of them express ignorance. He probes further, "Then why do you condone the murder?" With caution, fear-filled expression on their faces, most of them agree: "‘He uttered un-Islamic words."

The teacher looks away, thinking how oblivious his students are about the difference between the blasphemy laws and blasphemy and how unaware they are to what the murdered stood for and what the murderer believed in. He thinks they have a certain opinion, never the less, and why not, in fact quite justified keeping the students’ social and academic background in mind. What is alarming is the hesitant mutterings of those who condemn the murder.

Scene 2: Staff room of the English department.

Some teachers who uphold the ideals of liberalism, secularism, pluralism, cultural relativism, etc, are sipping steaming tea. They are discussing the murder of Salmaan Taseer. They agree it’s wrong to support the murderer, but advise each other to be "careful" and "not express their opinion publicly".

"Don’t even discuss the religious issues with your children," says one. "Be careful to speak out your mind, if your life is precious.’’

The very same sentiment echoes in the corridors and lecture rooms of the department. "It’s good the right precedent has been set." "Muslims are waking up to their duties," they say.

Elsewhere in the institute, history and physical sciences teachers share their thoughts, views and knowledge with students.

The teacher wonders if sharing their (dogmatic) views with students is part of their duties. He knows this particular education institute is not unique. Having been associated with the educational institutions for over 20 years as a student and teacher he knows this mindset is common in the city. The secular-spiritual divide is increasing with the former giving more room to the latter every passing day. Fading rationality, acceptance of diversity and many isms -- fanaticism, dogmatism, extremism and fundamentalism -- are gaining strength.

The government is fighting the war on terror but what it really needs to fight first is the ‘demon within’, for Pakistan to emerge as a modern, progressive, democratic and tolerant nation.

So no guess where the country is heading. The story ends.

 

Town Talk

*Exhibition: Group show at Revivers Galleria, 84-B-1, Ghalib Road, Gulberg III till Sat, Jan 22. A.S.Rind, Mashkoor Raza, Salman Farooqi.

 

*Billboard Exhibition curated by Shahana Rajani at Alhamra Arts Council, The Mall till Jan 22.

 

*Exhibition: Unveiling of Unver Shafi Khan’s long awaited Fabulist Series at the Drawing Room on Wed, Jan 19. The exhibition will continue till Sat, Feb 5.

 

*Dance/Theatre: Dekh Tamasha Chalta Ban by Ajoka on Mon, Jan 17 at Alhamra Arts Council, The Mall. A powerful play on religious intolerance.

 

*Play: Dara by Ajoka at Alhamra, Hall II, The Mall on Tue, Jan 18 at 7:00pm.

 

*Weekly Puppet Show for children every Sunday at Alhamra Arts Council, The Mall at 11:00am.

 

 

A Sabz that
bordered on the Laal

A perfect time for a play whose politically correct message seemed to have struck the right chord with the audience

By Farah Zia

The name was catchy. Young people doing a play on today’s Pakistan and calling it Sabz (green) is enough to make one curious. What if they were going to predict an Islamic revolution.

A few days into the ghastly murder of Salmaan Taseer, the Hall 2 in Alhamra Lahore was packed to capacity. I watched the third performance of the play last Sunday mounted by Hazaar Daastan and Lahore Arts Council and could not help thinking of the connection between the two. In the first ten minutes, a couple of things became clear. One, it wasn’t about an Islamic revolution; and two, despite the sadness in the air, this was perhaps the perfect time for the play and the irony of the politically correct message seemed to have struck a chord with the audience.

The play began with two young boys arguing over what seems like the most common subject of conversation -- when and how to leave this country and save one’s life and career. The writer had made use of the technique of "play within the play" to make a comment on not just the society but the state of arts too.

The action on the stage gripped the audience from the word go and kept them glued to their seats for the next two hours. After the steady bout of Hollywood adaptations and those too in English dominating our theatre scene, the original and immensely creative script was like a breath of fresh air. The humour was drawn from crisp and well-delivered dialogues.

The play may well have pulled off on the strength of its script alone but it appears that the adaptations of the likes of Mama Mia have convinced the people doing theatre that song and dance is perhaps the only way to keep the audience engaged. Of course, there is the example of Ajoka that has successfully used the technique for a long time. So Sabz had its share of songs and dance numbers which, incidentally, also contained the few weak moments of the play. Borrowed from Bollywood, at times these gelled well with the theme; at other times they appeared contrived and managed to create just sound and fury. It was in these sequences that the lights became too flashy. Overall, too, the lights could have been better managed. The same could be said about the sets.

There was an intelligent use of the hall space and by bringing the action from the stage to the audience and actively involving them in the entire thought-process was brilliant.

One problem irked me though. A play that had set out to project an optimistic vision of a progressive Pakistan ended up presenting the stereotypical image of women.

The intellectual discussion about what is wrong with the country and how to ‘change’ it was all amongst the male characters while the female characters were only there to add spice. Not only were they dumb, they were work-shirkers as well. This is not what we see around us. Women take their work seriously, sometimes even more seriously than men. A strong thinking female character could have served better in a play like Sabz.

Hats off to Hazaar Dastaan and its team members for the play and their message in the flyer. "We… believe in originality. Quality Urdu theatre is a rarity. Our company intends to specialize in Urdu theatre, focusing on the original scripts and stories that are rooted deeply in our culture. We want to tell stories that have some relevance to our problems."

The producer Umer Hameed should be hopefully encouraged with the response of an original play. Abdullah Farhatullah was brilliant as the writer and near brilliant as the director. Yasir Hussain and Muaz Raja, the two main leads, deserve all credit for their powerful stage presence and perfect timing.

Like all good art, there was no overt message in the play. Like all great art, it only raised some questions in people’s minds that they could take home and reflect on.

 

Handling headaches

An enlightening interactive
session with a doctor on pain management and emergency

In a country where questioning and open discussion on certain subjects can turn volatile, guidelines on health issues are most welcome by everyone. What can be better than someone talking to you about yourself -- not just talk but address your problems and give possible solutions because the person is equipped to do that.

In a one room office on the 7th floor of a newly built building, divided creatively into many sections with corrugated paper, Dr. Ali Javaid, a neuro psychiatrist held an interactive session last Wednesday on different types of headaches and their management with a bunch of men, women and children present there. The topic was ‘Improving stress coping skills -- headaches and basic life support’.

Starting from signs that are alarming, he talked about migraine, a form of headache many people are cognizant of and suffer, cluster headache and headaches due to tension and outward stimuli.

Headache in the morning when one wakes up is not frightening as such. It is when you try to get up and sit on bed and feel sharp pain at that moment is a cause for concern. Unable to balance oneself during headache is another warning sign and fever that is 103 degrees or up with headache is also not to be taken lightly. In all the above cases the doctor advised to go to hospital, have a CT scan or an MRI.

What many people mistake as migraine is not migraine. It is mostly accompanied by vomiting and the pain is severe. Noise and light aggravate this headache so it is strongly advised to shut oneself up in a quiet, dark room. The doctor advised against massage or tying cloth around head in case of migraine. That would only aggravate the pain.

Migraine mostly occurs first in early twenties and if it passes to the next generation, it appears in teen age. There are people who feel that the attack is coming well before it actually occurs. Dr. Ali Javaid suggested taking a tablet of Topamax 25mg daily to avert migraine attack. Regular walk and exercise lessens incidence of such attacks and that has been proven. People from the audience shared their experiences and affirmed what the doctor told everyone.

Massage helps in headaches arising from tension -- that can be in the temples, in the whole head or rising from eyes and going backwards. Dr Ali Javaid demonstrated how to do massage -- put three fingers on the temples and thumb at the back and press and move them downwards. The fingers can move down on the sides of the spine then. This relieves pain.

Cluster headache is in a specific area, occur at a certain time for a specific duration and can be intense. It is particularly found in men. Then there is headache accompanied by pain in jaws that is due to tooth infection and is commonly known as gingivitis. Pain on bending head is a sign of frontal sinusitis and is felt in winters. The doctor suggested taking steam after adding salt to hot water to get relief from headache.

Apart from this very informative and helpful session on headaches and their management Dr. Ali who is in Lahore on a visit from the US, gave the audience demonstration in emergency handling or CPR. The first thing is to ask the person if he/she is alright and can hear you. The second step is to swap index finger inside the mouth of the injured person to clear the airway. Third step is to hear breathing by putting ones ear to the injured person’s chest. Fourth step is to check pulse on the neck and wrist. Fifth step is to put pressure on the chest with both hands on each other and count while pumping. Count till 30 then breathe twice into the mouth of the person. Repeat this once more if necessary. It helps to sprinkle water on the face but it doesn’t help to give water to drink. The doctor told people to remember A, B, C here -- A for airway, B for breathing and C for circulation.

Most people found the session with the doctor most informative and helpful.

Holding free talks, demonstrations and discussions on issues that are directly related to individuals and that provide them with knowledge that can enhance quality of their life, is something that Institute for Peace and Secular Studies is doing in the city. They must be appreciated for this.

-- Saadia Salahuddin

 

On the path of progress

Gypsies who have been treated as encroachers and cast-offs for long, are getting identity cards and education with the effort of NGOs

By Salman Ali

Gypsies are part of the city for more than two centuries. There are 36,880 gypsy families and around 36,950 huts in Lahore city but these people have no rights and have not been recognised as citizens of Pakistan. They are not allowed to apply for identity cards.

Some non-government organisations are trying to give them education and are working for their betterment in certain areas of Lahore.

In Pakistan there are almost 15 sub castes of gypsies namely Qalandar, Urdh, Mirasi, Jogi, Kingar, Changar, Musalli, Nutt, Bazigar, Kenghar, Lali Marasi, Baloch, Gurajmar, Gugray etc. Practically speaking, every one have their own language, culture, moral values and rituals. Interestingly, they have different ways and styles of consigning a hut. Gypsies used to claim they were Shia Muslims but when practically observed they seem to follow no particular religion. They are unaware of the five essentials of Islam. 

Different gypsy tribes have different means of livelihood. I hope all of us are familiar with the word ‘Baloch’. They actually used to sell cattle for earning money and did not remain at one place for more than 8 years. Neem hakims are Jogies (one of the sub caste of gypsies) stayed at one place for not more than 4 years. People of this sub caste can be seen on Mall Road of Lahore city and highways. In Pakistan gypsies came from southern part of the country and later migrated to different parts of Punjab province – the reason why they have a Seraiki accent. Fast urbanisation has affected the lives of gypsy people as well who have become more like our city people. For example there is a sub caste of gypsies called ‘Changar’ who are more modern than the other sub castes. Though they live in tents in big cities they earn money through housekeeping.

Furthermore, if we consider Urdhs they used to stay at one place for more than 7years and earn money by taking part in construction work. A good number of them do not work as the men usually prefer to stay inside their huts and their spouses either work as labourers or collect saleable items from garbage dumps or sell combs, ‘parandas’ and other cheap goods. 

We can’t overlook the efforts of Nazir Ghazi and his staff here. There is an NGO in Lahore called Grass Root Organisation for Human Development (GODH) which was founded in 1999 and is running 11 schools for gypsy children. These schools are situated in different places of the city such as Sabzazar, Awan Town, Chungi Amar Sadhu, Ahbab Colony etc.

Ghazi says that GODH is a nongovernment, non profit organisation whose focus is to improve the living standards of gypsies. According to GODH data base there are over 15 million gypsies spread across Pakistan. Almost all of them are illiterate and without basic facilities such as provision of drinking water, health cover and education. According to a rough estimate there are around one million gypsies living in the suburbs of Lahore city.

Another organisation Association Network for Community Empowerment (ANCE) is working for the betterment of the gypsies in Lahore. Their main focus is on getting identity cards of the gypsy families. They call mobile van of NADRA every month in their office for this purpose. ANCE would hold an exhibition of hand-made products of the gypsy women for promotion of small enterprises for the welfare of gypsy community.

Samina is the one from ‘Qalandar’ family living in Lahore. Initially, she started her education from GODH school situated in Awan Town. After seeing her interest in education GODH admitted her to a government high school for further studies. Now Samina is a matriculate which GODH sees as its biggest achievement. She is now preparing for intermediate papers as a private student.

Another NGO Brooke, a charity helping working horses, donkeys and mules in the world’s poorest communities takes care of the animals which are a major source of livelihood for the gypsy families across the city.

salmanali088@gmail.com

 

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